by Dante King
“There’s many philosophies in the art of Augmenting,” I offered. “Not all chastise impurity.”
“As you train here, avoid distractions and corruptions. Don’t mingle with bastard half-breeds who mock others Augmenters. They will only weaken you and the guild you serve.”
“Thank you for your guidance, guildmaster,” I said stiffly. “I’ll keep it in mind. Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s been a long day, and I should get some rest.”
“Indeed.” Horix nodded his assent. “I look forward to continuing our conversation in the time you spend here.”
I walked out of the office and closed the door behind me. The messenger was waiting to guide me back to my friends.
We found Kegohr and Vesma in the guild’s dining hall around a late supper. I grabbed a plateful of much-needed food and joined them. As I dug into a pile of cured salmon sushi, I asked the others about what they’d learned so far.
“Not a lot,” Vesma answered. “Nobody seems to want to talk with us. They don’t tell us to go away, but they won’t hold a conversation either. It’s like they’re waiting to be told how to act.”
“Given a chance, they’ll choose to treat us like crap.” Kegohr glared at a group of initiates down the table. “You should see the looks they give me when they think I ain’t looking. Like I’m the shit someone walked in on their sandal.”
“Doesn’t look like it’s gonna change in a hurry, big guy,” I said. “Horix is just like the rest of them. In fact, I’m pretty sure that they get it from him. But he still agreed to allow us to stay here and train.”
“We already learned a trick or two,” Vesma said as she gestured at the initiates. “We watched that lot learning to channel their Vigor through their weapons.”
“Was it useful?” I asked.
Vesma held a knife out in front of her. She inhaled deeply a few times as she focused on the blade. It took a moment, but I watched in surprise as fire flickered from the steel edge of the knife.
“That’s incredible!” I said, unable to contain my excitement. “You guys are seriously on your game.”
I’d never seen anyone at our level do that trick without a special weapon. The Sundered Heart Sword and Nydarth’s power and knowledge was a different game entirely. My friends had learned this from simply observing someone else?
Vesma glowed with pride as Kegohr attacked another tower of sushi rolls.
“I’ll get there soon,” the half-ogre said with a mouthful of food. “I just need to figure out how to channel the Spirit of the Wildfire to cover my mace. Once I’ve got it, I’ll be melting everything in sight.”
I smacked my fist against his massive paw. “That’s it, buddy. Don’t let these pricks get you down.”
I annihilated my own pile of sushi and followed the others back to our guest quarters. The conversations drifted into jokes and talk about life back home at the Radiant Dragon Guild. Soon enough, our weariness caught up with us, and we decided to call it a night.
We all had individual rooms in the guest quarters, and Vesma seemed too tired to share a bed with me. My room was small, just big enough for a bed, a small chest for my belongings, and a wash stand. I set a candlestick down on the chest and started undressing by its warm light.
It was only once I was under the sheets and had blown the candle out that a thought occurred to me. I reached out to touch the handle of the Sundered Heart Sword as it leaned against the head of the bed.
“I see why you don’t like this place,” I whispered to the dragon spirit.
Nydarth chuckled. “Why, it almost sounds as if you’re beginning to trust me, dear.”
“Any idea what Horix’s game is?”
“Many desire power, Ethan Murphy lo Pashat, and take different paths to achieve it,” she answered. “Be sure to stay to your own path. Horix has chosen his own, and what lies ahead of it, only time will tell.”
“You really like riddles, don’t you?”
Her salacious laughter filled my mind. “Would you have it any other way?”
I rolled my eyes and dropped my head back against the pillow. “Goodnight, Nydarth.”
“Goodnight, sweet man.”
I woke the next morning to a knock on my door. I’d almost been expecting Vesma to pay me a visit during the night, but it seemed she had needed the rest.
“Who is it?” I called out.
“Messenger from the gate,” said an unfamiliar voice. “There’s a wood elf here to see you. Says her name is Faryn.”
“Can you let her in?” I asked.
“She said she’d rather wait for you outside the guild house.”
Before I could point out that he hadn’t answered my question, I heard his footsteps heading away.
I quickly got dressed and gathered my kit. Nydarth hummed pleasantly as I buckled her to my hip and bumped my dormitory room’s door open with my shoulder. Kegohr and Vesma were waiting for me in one of the guest quarters’ communal rooms. Kegohr gave me a loud “Morning!” while Vesma limited herself to a smile and a nod.
“Faryn’s waiting for me outside,” I said. “How about you two work on that Flame Weapon technique while I go and see her?
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Kegohr agreed.
Vesma frowned. “You’re going without me?”
“I’ll be back as soon as I can. I won’t be long.” I leaned down to kiss her full lips and stayed there for a few seconds. Her lips parted into a smile and she shoved me away.
“Get out of here,” she said with a giggle.
“I want to see you bathe your mace with flames when I get back,” I said to Kegohr before I turned and left the communal room.
Getting out of the guild house proved far easier than getting in. I made my way out into the expansive courtyard, through the brass gates, and out onto the dock. Faryn waited there as the wind pulled at her mahogany hair and fanned it around her like a mystic curtain of energy. She beamed at me as I approached, and a bolt of heat warmed my insides despite the cold morning.
“Come with me,” she said without preamble. “I have a boat waiting.”
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“To a Vigorous Zone,” she replied. “I’m going to help you learn some new techniques.”
“More wood Augmenting?” I asked with a waggle of my eyebrows.
“Combining wood with water, just like you combined it with fire before.” Faryn’s smile widened. “A new set of skills for a burgeoning Swordslinger.”
I’d told Vesma that I wouldn’t be long, but she’d have to forgive me once I returned to the guild house with a new combo element.
Chapter Seven
When we reached the docks, there weren’t any guild members or guards in sight.
“I don’t see anyone who can pilot a boat,” Faryn observed.
“I’ve seen it done before,” I said.
“You think you can do it?”
I shrugged. “How hard can it be? After all, I have water pathways now.”
“I would very much like to see this.” Faryn settled into a boat, and I took a seat at the back.
I’d seen members of the guild use these craft effortlessly through channeling their Vigor. I placed my hand on the seahorse carving, drew upon my supply of Vigor, and pressed it through my hand. The boat shuddered as blue ribbons of energy swirled through the boat’s timbers.
Faryn’s eyes grew wide as they stared at the enchanted seahorse rippling with magic. “I believe the carving is something similar to a scroll or artificial Vigor pathway. Why don’t you channel through the boat in the same way you channel through the Sundered Heart. From there, it shouldn’t—”
The boat lurched as I sent Vigor into the prow. We hurtled through the waves like we were riding in a motorboat. It took me a few minutes to get a feel for how the boat handled, but all I needed to do was adjust the direction of Vigor flowing inside my water pathways, and the boat followed.
In minutes, we shot past towering cliffs and isolated fishing vi
llages. Faryn directed me between islands populated by puffins and gulls. Seals basked on rocks, indifferent to our passage, while the tentacles of stranger beasts shot out of the water to snatch unwary, low-flying gulls. I made sure to stay well clear of churning ripples of bubbles after that.
The breeze against my skin chased away the last remnants of sleep. Faryn leaned over the side of the boat, creating a wake of foam with her fingers. It had been a long time since we’d found any privacy, and my gaze wandered fondly from her face down her body to shapely legs exposed by the cut of her robes. Her katana-like blade rested in its carved sheath over her knees. It wasn’t difficult to remember the sensation of those knees wrapped around me.
“So, you couldn’t wait to ‘educate’ me some more?” I asked with a grin.
She smiled back but didn’t take the bait.
“You didn’t have to go to all these lengths,” I continued. “You could have just left a note in my shoe and arranged to meet in some dark corner of the House of Resplendent Tears. Even those uptight water Augmenters will have hidden places they can go for a little private tutoring.”
She sighed and shook her head. “It was tempting, but this is not the time. Now, it’s more important than ever that I remain professional.”
I laughed. “It’s a little late for that, isn’t it?”
“It’s never too late for anything,” she said, a familiar twinkle returning to her eyes. “But a good teacher saves something as a reward for a good pupil.”
“I’ll be on my best behavior,” I said. “Cross my heart.”
Faryn ran a slender hand across the starboard side of the stern. “We’re approaching the zone now. Over there.” She indicated a low-lying, swampy, and waterlogged expanse of saturated earth and muddy water.
I turned our vessel to the right, toward the coastal area. “How do you know so much about the Diamond Coast?”
“Xilarion did give you a map. Did you pay it more than a glance?”
“A little more than a glance, yes. But Vesma is the better pathfinder, so I let her handle directions.”
I pulled back on the craft’s pace as we approached land. We came to rest on a thick mud bank beside a relatively solid patch of ground. Sludge rose up around our feet as we climbed out of the boat.
I shifted onto firmer land, where the roots of reeds held the earth together in seemingly solid clumps. Even there, I could feel myself sinking if I stood still for more than a few seconds. Good footing was one of the most important elements in a fight, and this swamp was a deathtrap for an unwary Augmenter. I needed to watch my step while we ventured further.
The marsh was scattered with bedraggled trees and scraggly bushes bearing unfamiliar fruit. Some I recognized as similar to plants back on earth, but others were completely unfamiliar. Scaled creatures slithered between them and vanished into the reeds as we drew closer.
“You never struck me as a marshlands type of girl,” I said to Faryn as we squelched over a somewhat stable pathway through the reeds. “There’s nothing here except dying trees and reeds.”
She laughed. “I’ll admit, it’s not my first choice of scenery. But one discovers much about their courage when they decide to confront dangerous situations. I’ve been taking that lesson in stride.”
“Guess you’re never too old to learn, right?” I laughed. Despite her youthful beauty, Faryn was more than a hundred years old. The combination of her elvish race and Augmentation abilities meant she could live far longer than a human could.
“Even us ancient relics learn a thing or two from the children,” the elf replied with a wink. “Particularly strapping types who take on any threat, large or small.” Her expression turned serious. “You’ve made a core from two elements before, haven’t you?”
“An ash core,” I said. “I forged it from the fire and wood paths with Nydarth’s help.”
“Most Augmenters train their entire lives to master one Vigor channel. You’ve managed to learn how to work with three. That’s quite the accomplishment. How did you find the process?”
“It was dangerous and incredibly painful,” I began.
I told her about that sojourn into the Ember Cavern and, from there, into the spirit world. How I’d battled the embodiments of wood and fire individually before facing their combined form in the ash spirit. It’d been one of my toughest fights to date, but the rewards had been worth the effort. Ash Cloud was now one of my go-to techniques, and it was easily one of the most useful in my arsenal. Fire Immunity and Compress Ash had become less useful now that we were in a province with exclusively water Augmenters and monsters.
As I finished recounting the experience to Faryn, I scanned the marshlands. Plants swayed to rhythms that seemed oblivious to the wind. Water rippled with the passage of neon eels. Unfamiliar shapes of other animals continued to dart between the scattered bushes. I was suspicious. Nothing had appeared to turn us into lunch, and in an environment like this, that was pretty rare.
“We are in a Vigorous Zone, right? Where are the monsters?”
“On their way, I’m sure,” Faryn said as she drew her sword. “From what I’ve learned, the creatures of these marshes favor ambush tactics. We’ll need to overcome them in order for you to open a new pathway.”
“I couldn’t have done that on the boat?” I asked. “Instead of getting you covered in mud?”
Faryn’s laugh was short and nervous. “It’s not enough just to meditate your way into the spirit realm. An Augmenter needs to be able to tap into a place that’s drenched with Vigor if they want to be able to combine pathways. To combine water and wood into the sap pathway, you need to be awash with magical power and draw on your surroundings.”
I stopped short. “Sap is an element?”
Faryn nodded. “Of course. It’s often overlooked by combat Augmenters for its seeming lack of offensive ability. But it has several healing properties, amongst other things.”
The mud ahead of us bubbled and shifted as shapes rose from beneath it. The Sundered Heart was in my hand in a moment, and Nydarth hummed in my mind.
“Sap will be of no use to you if you’re not alive to use it, sweet man. Remember that.”
A pack of lampreys emerged from the mire around us, like monsters straight out of a summer-camp horror movie. They looked more at home here than they had in the forest clearing. These were much larger than the ones in the glade. Even though they were hunched over like apes, they were almost as tall as me. Slimy scales blended with the mud as it dripped from their hides. Air bubbled from the gills on their backs as they approached.
“Fire won’t much help you here!” Faryn yelled above a chorus of hissing from the monsters.
“Then, show me how it’s done, Master Faryn.”
She clasped her hands around the hilt of her blade, reversed the sword, and raised it.
The lampreys charged with terrifying speed. The wood elf slammed her sword into the mud between her feet, and I sensed the swirl of Vigor pulse through the muck around my toes. Roots burst from the ground beneath the nearest lampreys and wrapped around their legs. Faryn’s expression of determination tightened as she twisted her blade. The roots snaked higher around her targets, caught hold of their arms, and punctured their gills. The lampreys gurgled as she tore her blade out of the mud and completed her attack. The first wave of monsters struggled in vain as the Strangling Roots pulled them into the marshes and drowned them in their own turf.
Faryn swayed as she raised her blade and positioned herself behind me. “Was that a sufficient example of ‘how it’s done’?”
“Not bad,” I stated. “You okay?”
“You’re not the only one who has flair, Ethan.”
I brushed my shoulder against hers as the mud around us bubbled again. “You need to teach me that trick later. Or tell me where I can find monsters to learn it from.”
“You have techniques of your own. What use would I be if you mastered all of mine?”
I closed my eyes for a moment an
d channeled the power of water. Vigor flowed out from my pores and across my skin until it began to form Frozen Armor. A slippery coat of thin ice snaked around my limbs as seven fresh lampreys appeared out of the muck and scuttled forward.
One lunged in from my left, and I blocked a strike with my sword. I’d defeated these monsters before, albeit smaller ones, but I figured this would be a perfect opportunity to test the capabilities of Frozen Armor.
I channeled more Vigor into my armor and created a thicker gauntlet with an icicled row of spikes. The lamprey came for me again, but I lifted my spiked gauntlet, and the monster’s huge maw snapped around it. I felt the makeshift ice crack but hold its shape. The icicles drove into the creature’s mouth, and it jerked backward. Its claws scrabbled against my armor and ripped away tiny chips from the glossy surface of my breastplate.
I was just as slippery as these slimy critters now. I could see why the water Augmenters used Frozen Armor so often.
The lamprey opened its maw wide with a snake-like hiss, and I ran the Sundered Heart straight through its gaping mouth and out the back of its throat. Black blood gushed from its ruined neck as I tore the sword free and kicked the corpse into the reeds.
More lampreys closed in, more than I could grab and impale at once. I conjured an Ash Cloud to buy some time and whirled it toward the advancing monsters. They slowed as the black particles infected their eyes and swarmed down their throats.
Leaves rippled past my cheek as Faryn fought off her own enemies at my back. Her Smothering Leaves technique sliced open the scaled hides of the monsters. I jumped forward in the muck, dropped to my knees like a rockstar, and slid into range of the staggering lampreys. Claws scraped against my armor as I cut a hamstring and took out the nearest lamprey’s footing. I stabbed it through the gills and backhanded a blinded monster with my spiked gauntlet of ice. Blood spurted as I decapitated the third monster with a two-handed strike. I twisted out and kicked the detached skull like a soccer ball. The disembodied head rocketed into the face of another lamprey and stunned it.